How low on dough? If you have a standard fixture, you could start with low light plants and save some money until you can buy better lighting. Don't make the mistake of buying the cheapest thing out there right now that won't suit your needs in the future. Trust me that you'll want to upgrade in the future and buying cheap stuff now and then replacing it with better equipment is a lot more expensive than just doing it right the first time. I know from experience. I wouldn't buy anything below a 30" 65w CF aqualight for a 29-30g tank. You can buy one for between $50-$75. That's what I started mine with. Of course I then wanted more, so I bought a 30" double strip NO T-5 to add 36 more watts of light to bring the total to 101w. By the time I spent $70 on the 65w fixture, $40 on the double strip NO T5, and $10 to change one of the bulbs in the T5 from colormax to another 6700K, I had spent $120 on 101 watts of light. If I just bought the double CF fixture from the beginning, I'd have spent $125 on 130 watts of light and had 1 nice fixture on my tank instead of 2. And besides that, if I knew then what I know now, I would have started it all with metal halide or HO T-5 anyway. Just be sure to do your research and decide what you really want to do before buying anything. I will say that my plants did well under just the 65w light but I always gotta have more.
Simple,and with the low depth of a 30,co2 shouldnt be nesisary,but hardcore plant guys will say it is.Just get some bright light on 'em in the 6500k range.
